Bread manufacturers desire to work with bread dough having consistently good processing characteristics, particularly in automatic plants where stable dough facilitates handling and retains shapeliness in the loaves. Consumers demand bread products having a pleasing texture and internal crumb grain appearance. The texture and grain appearance must remain pleasing even after the bread sits for several days.
In order to ensure the consistent performance of flour and provide bread with a desired texture and internal crumb grain appearance, bread manufactures add mineral improvers to flour. Potassium bromate (KBrO.sub.3) is regarded as the most powerful mineral improvers added to flour, and is typically added to flour at a level of 1 part per 100,000 parts of flour (1/10 oz. per sack). As a result, potassium bromate residues are found in several bread products, primarily rolls and specialty breads.
Recently, the use of bromates in food products has raised many health concerns. The United States Food and Drug Administration is presently considering whether to ban the use of bromates in foods. Several countries, including Canada and Great Britain, presently ban the use of bromates in baked foods. However, until now, no adequate natural substitute for potassium bromate has been discovered that imparts to the flour consistent processing characteristics and provides a bread product with a desirable texture and internal crumb grain appearance both immediately and several days after the bread is produced.
In addition to eliminating the use of bromates in bread products, consumers are rapidly becoming more health conscious and demand bread products having reduced fat content yet retaining the internal crumb grain appearance and texture of breads high in fat. Accordingly, it is desired to decrease the amount of shortening used in preparing bread products while retaining a desirable degree of internal crumb grain appearance and texture, even after the bread sits for several days.